Also imber, immer, emmer, ammer. [a. Norw. emmer(-gaas): Icel. has himbrimi, older himbrin; Faroic imbrim (Vigf.).] A kind of sea-fowl (Colymbus Immer Linn. Pennant) frequenting the seas about Orkney, a variety of the Northern Diver or Loon (Colymbus glacialis) to which the name is sometimes given. Chiefly in Comb. as Ember-goose, -diver.
1744. Preston, Zetland, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 61/2. The Ember-Goose, which is said to hatch her Egg under her Wing.
1802. G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. (1833), 267. Imber-Diver.—A name for the Loon.
1822. Scott, Pirate, xxi. Be mine the imber-goose to play.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Brit. Birds (E. D. S.), 213. Immer or Ember (Orkney Isles). Imber Diver (Ireland). Ammer, or Emmer goose (Aberdeen; East Lothian).
